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Best technique to dry mounting large prints

Normally I cut the tissue larger than the print, use a tacking iron to tack the center of the print back to the tissue, then tack a few other areas, trim the print and tissue together, position print on the mat, tack tissue to mat, cover with release paper and a protective cover mat, apply heat in heat press, remove from heat press, cover with another mat weight down then wait till everything cools down.

In order to mat the above size prints I imagine I would do about the same thing, however I am going to have to step the heat press over the print. I think it would be best to start in the center and step in overlapping steps to the edge of the print I am also going to have to do a 180 on the mat with print to cover top and bottom areas with the heat press.

Now would it be better to initially start in the middle of the top do the 180 and do the middle of the bottom, then work toward the edges.

Re: Best technique to dry mounting large prints

I helped a friend do a print of similar size, we started at one end, and worked towards the other end. We tacked the print to the board at the starting end, and it worked great. He now has the print hanging above his couch in the living room. We did a few "dry runs" with an extra print he had, so when we got to the real deal, we were somewhat "trained".

I've mounted larger prints in quarters, overlapping the mounted areas slightly as I went. I like the idea of tacking initially at one end and working from one end to the other. This allows a bit of creep during the mounting and will prevent puckers over the tacked areas. I've always used BufferMount, which is heat removable. This seemed to allow the print to unmount-remount in the overlapping areas which also helps prevent lines.

A bit of practice with some scrap prints (you'll have to sacrifice a board or two) will get you going. You can find solutions for defects as you practice.

Re: Best technique to dry mounting large prints

Basically I proceeded as I usually do up to the point that the print is tacked to the mat board. Then I used a one minute heat press application to the four overlapping quadrants of the print. As recommended I supported the "free end" of the mat and print to prevent tissue/print sag. After I did all four areas everything looked the way I wanted except the edge of the print was not completely bonded to the mat. At this point I did the usual time for mounting to all four quadrants.

On my first print after doing the two minute bonding I noticed that some print edges were not flush so I used the heat press on one quadrant, removed from press covered with a cool mat board applied weight let cool and went on to the next quadrant applied heat, removed cooled under pressure and proceeded to the next etc..

On subsequent prints I skipped the "heat press tack bonding" and heated one quadrant removed cooled under pressure then did the next quadrant the same way. No problems and a real time saver. Your mileage may vary.